SHA August 26, 2024 Board of Commissioners Meeting Minutes

MINUTES
REGULAR MEETING OF THE
BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS OF THE
SANFORD HOUSING AUTHORITY
MONDAY, AUGUST 26, 2024, AT 6:00 P.M.
317 CHATHAM STREET SANFORD, NC 27330

A meeting of the Board of Commissioners for Sanford Housing Authority was held on Monday, August 26, 2024, at 6:00 p.m. at the SHA Central Office, 317 Chatham Street, Sanford, NC 27330. Notice of the meeting was duly posted.

Mr. Newby called the meeting to order at 6:03 pm.

1. Roll Call
Attendance

Present

Commissioner Newby
Commissioner Sinnamon
Commissioner Wicker
Commissioner Dalrymple
Commissioner Aeschliman

Absent

Commissioner White
Commissioner Britton
Mr. Goodson said that Mr. Ferguson is also out because he has two meetings today that were already scheduled.

2. Adoption of Minutes

Mr. Newby asked for someone to make a motion to adopt the board minutes from the July 22nd board meeting. Dr. Wicker moved to pass the board minutes. Ms. Aeschliman seconded the motion. All were in favor; the motion passed unanimously.

3. Financials
Mr. Goodson said that there is no financial report right now because Mr. Blackwell is out sick. He said that we could get him to summarize what is going on financially and email it to the board members in the coming days. No financials presented. Dr. Wicker asked if it would be possible if by the next board meeting the board could get the current bank statements from all bank accounts. Mr. Goodson said, yes, we will give the board a copy of all up-to-date bank statements for the accounts in lieu of a full financial report.

4. Public Housing Vacancy Report and Maintenance Reports

Vacancy Report

Linden Heights: 93% occupied, a total of three vacant units
Utley Plaza: 90% occupied, a total of five vacant units
Foushee Heights: 93% occupied, a total of three vacant units
Harris Court: 92% occupied, a total of two vacant units
226 Linden Heights: 100% occupied

We should be at 98% or better by the next board meeting. She said that we get move ins but then we get equal move outs. She said that the old units were about seven hundred days offline because they have had major repair issues, but they should be off the board soon. She said that she has been working with HUD each Friday to provide them with an update of where we are with our vacant units. Though they require a monthly report, she does it weekly to keep them in the loop. She said that we do not have any more of those units that had those long number of days offline.

Public Housing Maintenance Report

Linden: twenty-seven work orders generated, twenty-four completed, leaving three outstanding with 1.29 average days for completion. Four emergency work orders; all completed within HUD's mandated 24-hour completion period. Forty dollars was charged to a tenant for repairs.
Utley: nineteen work orders generated, fifteen completed, leaving four outstanding work orders with .34 days; three emergency work orders completed within 24 hours.
Foushee: fifteen work orders generated, fourteen completed leaving one open with a 4.1-day turnaround; two emergency work orders completed within 24 hours

Fifty work orders; fifteen completed; thirty-five outstanding. We are preparing for the Inspire inspection, so we are in the units every month so that we are not taken off guard when the date is given. We need to get a passing score on the next inspection. Two emergency work orders, both completed in 24 hours.

Linden had one work order which was completed

Dr. Wicker asked if the $40 for what a tenant had caused. She said that she is wondering what $40 would have covered. Sherri said that she did not know but it had to be something small. Also, we have a charge sheet, and we cannot charge over what is stated. Mr. Goodson said that it had to be something beyond reasonable wear and tear. Sherri said that it could have been a fee for new locks.

Mr. Newby reiterated that the work orders for Harris Court are because we are anticipating the Inspire inspection, so they are based off us going into the units and finding things to repair. Sherri said that we usually get into the units quarterly, which is what she requires from the staff, but we are in Harris Court every month because we know that the inspection is coming, and we are trying to do as much as we can before the inspection. Sherri said that we had a date, but it got cancelled because of the storm and they can't just give us a date yet because the inspectors are already booked throughout the county but because ours got cancelled due to the storm, we know that it is coming soon, but we just don' t know when.

5. RAD/LIHTC Vacancy & Maintenance Reports

Vacancy Report

Matthews Court Vacancy Report
Ninety-two percent occupied, they have four vacancies, but recently had two move-ins
Garden-Gilmore Vacancy Report
Eighty-one percent are occupied, they have twenty-four vacancies, but recently had seven move ins; however, every time we have a move in, we get a move out.

We ended the month at an 80% occupancy rate with a total of nine move-ins for the month and a total of twenty-eight vacancies for the tax credit properties

Maintenance Report
Dr. Wicker asked if the landscaping company was able to get to Garden Street because she rode by a one Sunday and the grass was tall. Sherri said that they have cut the grass and trimmed the bushes. She said that she has them mowing the grass lower than what is stated in the contract; the contract says four inches, but it will never look mowed at 4 inches.

She found a couple of RFPs at different housing authorities so that she could go out for bids soon. She said that HUD is allowing us to keep our vendors right now even though the contract is expired. She said that she does not know procurement and is learning the process.

Sherri said that it is not the responsibility of the landscapers to remove the tree that was damaged, but it was ours; however, they came and removed it and did not charge us. Sherri said that we bought two loads of dirt to pack the hole so that there is no hazard.

Work Orders
Matthews Court: There were twenty-seven work orders generated, twenty-five completed, leaving two outstanding. There was one emergency work order issued and completed within 24 hours

Garden-Gilmore
There were fifty-four work orders issued, forty-seven were completed, leaving 7 outstanding. Seven emergency work orders were issued and completed within 24 hours.

Mr. Goodson added that operationally, we are doing much better. He said that the main issue is finances, but we are getting better. He said that now the 1.6 million reserves are depleted and now we are working to rebuild the reserves; however, housing authorities are not designed to make money because the rents are limited and they are set by HUD, but we can survive. He said that operationally, we are doing better. The numbers are accurate, and they have not always been like this.

Sherri said that we still struggle with being able to afford what is needed supply wise, but the maintenance staff is being creative. She said that she has a list of supplies needed and she tries to get them as she can. She said that we still have vendors that will not work with us, and we still have issues in these units that need to be taken care of, but we are prioritizing to make sure that no one is in a dangerous situation. She said that a couple of days ago, we had two ceilings collapsed, so we had to move tenants. Dr. Wicker asked if the problem that we have with getting supplies is part of the financial problem and Sheri replied, yes.

6. HCV-Section 8
We have 708 allocated, 549 leased; seventy-eight percent lease up rate

25 15 leased
37 36 leased
PBV Unit 226 Linden 5; five leased
Matthews Ct. 50; forty-five leased
Garden-Gilmore has 126; ninety-nine are leased

Overall, we are at 79% leased, which HUD expects us to be at 99%; however, our utilization is high. We are at 105% utilization, so we are not issuing any vouchers this month, which will be the first month that we are not issuing vouchers. She said that she is expecting a phone call from HUD because we are over leased by about 8 or 9 vouchers because we have that in attrition monthly so in the next month, we should be back at 100%. Thirty-eight vouchers were issued,137 vouchers are still on the street looking for a place and eleven new additions and five end of participations

SEMAP Indicators tell us each month what we should get as a score at the end of the year, and we are tracking to receive a 100% score which is in a month. Though our score has been good, she wants us to get up to 90% or better

Dr. Wicker asked about Danielle needing help uploading information. Mr. Goodson said that

7. Resident Services Report
Mr. Goodson stated that though the participation is low, the program has been a little dormant and we are trying to get it up to running how it should be running to generate the interest. We had a resident council meeting on August 15th and 4 residents attended and though it is better than nothing, those are not the numbers that we hope to get in the future. He said that now since Ms. Sinnamon is on the board, she can help us generate more interest in joining the Resident Council. Ms. Sinnamon asked if there was a Resident Council meeting at Linden on a Sunday. Ms. Sinnamon said that she will not attend a meeting on that day, because that is the day for the Lord. Mr. Goodson asked if that was something that the residents had, and Ms. Sinnamon said that she was sure that there was a correspondence that went out from SHA.

Ms. Dalrymple asked what an acceptable number of participants in Mr. Goodson's eyes was. Sherri said that it is based on HUD, and it is a percentage of the number of people within a development. You must have a consistent number of people that show, and her history she said that fifteen or more people on a regular basis. Mr. Goodson said that he agrees, but we must give people a reason to come. We must develop items that are of interest to them. He said that we must work on the purpose of why we are having the events. Ms. Sinnamon said that correspondence should be sent out to the residents with an agenda. Mr. Goodson said that we must produce things that will positively impact their lives. Mr. Goodson said that while we cannot have giveaways all the time, we must get people motivated to show up to meetings because we have information that is useful to people. Mr. Newby stated that we can bundle it and have another presentation before the backpack giveaway. Sherri said that we partnered with Salvation Army and did that. We used all our applications, and we bought candy, but we gave back thirty applications, and we were able to talk to them. She said that it was her, 2 Assistant Property Managers, and Shkera. We worked the table and gave out the applications.

Dr. Wicker said A1C screenings or blood pressure screenings. Mr. Goodson said that his fraternity does the same thing in Fort Myers, and it is a big turnout because they do it at the same time each year. Dr. Wicker asked because she works in BCBS and wants to know if it is something that people would be interested in. She said that we would need a local healthcare provider to do the testing because BCBS does not do that. Mr. Goodson said that he thinks that if we did it at Matthews Court, the turnout would be good. Ms. Dalrymple said that she has a friend that may be willing to be the healthcare provider. Dr. Wicker asked who the point of contact for this would be; Sherri said that the Property Managers should be in on this offering. Mr. Goodson claimed that Shkera would still be the point person. Mr. Goodson agreed that all the managers should be involved. Dr. Wicker asked if we were ready to start planning or talking about it. Mr. Goodson said that we are ready to start talking about it and then planning the event because the program is not where it should be. He said that he sent Shkera to one training, but she needs to go to other housing authorities who have been doing this for a while? Ms. Dalrymple and Mr. Newby asked if we have asked the residents in a survey of what topics or programs would benefit them. Mr. Goodson said that we may have but he does not know. Sherri said that she has not seen any surveys since she has been here.

Mr. Newby asked, with the Sunday meeting that Ms. Sinnamon brought up, were the residents given a choice of the day of week that the meetings would take place. Ms. Sinnamon said that there was a notice that had a certain date on the correspondence. Sherri said that we would speak with Shkera because she would never have a meeting on a Saturday or a Sunday. Also, she would alternate times for people who work in the morning and/or in the afternoons. Mr. Goodson said that other entities sponsor meetings on Saturdays, but we would not do that. Sherri said that sometimes, our working hours are not aligned with what is convenient for their working hours, so we also need to take that into consideration as well. Mr. Goodson suggested that we have a meeting in the morning and one in the evening.

Dr. Wicker said that she would connect Michael Cotton, who is on her team, with Shkera to start talking about an event for the residents regarding screenings and vaccinations. Sherri said, we can also add a flu shot and the new COVID shot. Sherri said that when she was with Sarasota, they had COVID shots, and the event was packed. Dr. Wicker said that she could also bring Healthy Blue and incorporate Medicaid because some people may not have signed up for whatever reason, but they may need information. Mr. Goodson said that Shkera is on vacation this week so if Dr. Wicker does not get her, try her next week.

Mr. Goodson reminded the board that on the 1st of October, we are still planning for the National Night Out Against Crime. Mr. Goodson said that we are trying to have it out in different sites that are meaningful; we must be considerate of how the city responders must move around with the fire trucks, etc., so we are determining the event locations. Ms. Dalrymple asked if it was a Tuesday and Sherri said that it is always the first Tuesday, usually in August, but because of the heat, they moved it this year. Mr. Newby confirmed that it is a Tuesday. Ms. Dalrymple said that usually it is one site and Mr. Goodson said that when he was here before, he was used to doing one site, but recently, we did multiple sites and did not have the turnout. He said that Ms. White particularly wanted to have it at more than one site, but now we are trying to figure out how to manage it at more than one site. Ms. Dalrymple said she worked on it with her church and the city will only sponsor it to happen at one site. She said that it may have changed because she has not done it for a few years.

8. New Business-Action Items
Mr. Goodson said that these are all items that take place annually according to HUD guidelines. Sherri said that we bring it to the board for approval, but it happens annually.

Action Item A: New Payment Standards
Mr. Newby called for someone to read the suggested motion on page 23. Sherri said that each year, HUD publishes the Fair Market Rents around the same time and then housing authorities must take the new market rents and adjust their payment standards. The payment standards are what we will pay for vouchers. She said that housing authorities pay between 90 and 110% of the payment standards; anything above 110%, you must have HUD approval. She said that our housing authority pays up to 110%. Mr. Goodson said that you pay 110% because as a housing authority, you are trying to get as much interest as you can, because as a landlord, you want as much as you can get. Sherri said also, the main reason is that HUD never gets fair market rents right; for example, a two bedroom for $1044 is what HUD says is Fair Market Rent, but it's really like $1200, so for us to be competitive with the private market, our payment standards are as high as 110%. Mr. Goodson pointed out that from 2024 to 2025, moving from left to right, you can see the difference and increase for each bedroom size for Fair Market Rents from HUD for Lee County NC. Mr. Goodson said that Wake County would be around $1300 instead of $926. Sherri said that each year, we bring to the board what we are proposing the Payment Standard for the new Fair Housing Market Rents. Mr. Goodson said, to answer Dr. Wicker's question, the current PSA, you look at $926 to $1014, based on HUD's Fair Market Rent for the area.

The question was asked to about why the current Payment Standards at $926 was different from the current FMR. Mr. Goodson said that it is because the Payment Standard is 110% of the Fair Market Rent. Mr. Goodson said that Harnett County is below; he said that now we must have board approval to adjust the Payment Standards by bedroom sides to coincide with HUD's Fair Market Rent amounts.

Ms. Aeschliman moved to approve the Payment Standards to become effective October 1, 2024, found in Attachment A. Ms. Sinnamon seconded the motion; all were in favor. The motion passed unanimously.

Action Item B: Public Housing Flat Rents
Sherri explained that the public housing flat rents on page 30 said that they are affiliated with the Fair Market Rent, but for public housing. HUD says that the flat rents cannot be less than 80% of the Fair Market Rents. She referred to the chart on page 32, which shows what the FMR was from last year to this year, it shows what the new flat rents will be as of October 1, 2024, which will be 80% of the FMR. Sherri said that Flat Rents are for tenants whose income exceeds the 30% mark; so, 30% of their income will equal four hundred dollars but 30% of their income says that their rent should be $800 dollars. So, if they live in Foushee Heights in a one bedroom, that person would choose to take a $745 flat rent fee: it is a three-year lease, not a one-year lease. So, for three years, the rent is locked in, so for people who work, this is a way to help people who work and was part of the Quality Housing Work Act (QHWA); Rehabilitation Act, was devised to help people have a way to try to save money for homebuying; so instead of their rent going up each time they get a raise, they stay at the same rent for three years so that they can put that extra money away in hopes of buying a home. Mr. Goodson said that a case in NY city made national news because there was a family living in public housing whose household income was $250K dollars and people were upset because they took the option of flat rent and because something happened in their family income that increased their income, they opted for flat rent and instead of moving out, they stayed in public housing. Sherri said that the law has now changed and now when people are over income must move out of public housing. Mr. Goodson said that the case in NY may have been a direct result of that type of change in income of a family living in public housing; so maybe HUD caught that loophole and fixed the rules. Sherri said that we have a lot of people on flat rent, but their income is not at a point where they do not qualify for the program.

Mr. Newby asked for a motion to approve the Revised Flat Rent Schedule from Attachment A. Dr. Wicker moved to approve the revised flat rent schedule for October 1, 2024. Ms. Aeschliman seconded the motion. All were in favor; the motion passed unanimously.

Action Item C: Proposed Utility Allowance
Mr. Goodson said that this was done by a third party who does utility adjustments professionally. Sherri said that these are required to be done by an engineer and Nelrod is one of the best in the country. Sherri said each year around this time, we do a utility study, and it is detailed, she and Section 8 have the entire book. Each year we go out for utility allowances and for the Section 8 utility allowances for Lee and Harnett Counties, we have to do a utility allowance for different types of groups of homes like a multi-family, duplex, townhome, or single family, mobile home, etc., the description is given for each type of home and we must do the study each year but we don't have to make changes if the study does not yield a 10% or more change. HUD says that if it is not more than 10% of an increase, you do not have to change because it would only impact the rent by about $1 dollar, which would be more administrative work to be done than necessary for such a slight increase. She said that with Section 8, we do have to make a change, and it is shown on the charts. She said that everything is predicated on what the tenant must pay based on the type of home and which utilities they must pay; not all landlords charge for all utilities. The chart dictates how much to charge and pay for the vouchers. She also said that you must make changes for each different type of housing for both counties.

Mr. Newby asked for someone to read the suggested action on page 33. Ms. Aeschliman asked that the proposed utility allowances be approved and become effective October 1, 2024. Ms. Dalrymple seconded the motion. All were in favor; the motion passed unanimously.

Action Item D: Public Housing Utility Allowances
Sherri said that on page 45, shows that there is no change in utility allowances greater than 10%, so there is no change for public housing utility allowances, so they will stay the same. She said that on page 51, you can see what they are. Mr. Newby asked that since there is no change if someone could read the recommended action on page 45. Ms. Aeschliman read the recommended action, that the SHA Board of Commissioners move to approve the utility allowances for public housing considering that there are no changes for October 1, 2024. Ms. Sinnamon seconded the motion. All were in favor; the motion passed unanimously.

Mr. Goodson advised the board that they all had in front of them the Roberts Rules of Order book that Commissioner White asked to be ordered. He said that the board also requested that we procure a third party for the Section 8 program. He said that we sent out the request for proposal to four companies and received back one proposal. The one who proposed, which is Prio for $10,400. He has not worked with the company before, but they would review 20% of our HCV files; he thinks that it is more than reasonable. He said that this would verify that the Section 8 program is being managed to reflect what our self-score using SEMAP is fairly accurate. He said that while we think that we are fair with how we scored ourselves, having a third party is not a bad thing. He said that we heard the board on what they would like to see from an auditing standpoint, so we are prepared to put that in motion. He said that that is one thing that the board asked to be put in place that we are prepared to put in motion.

Also, it was asked that we get some help for Danielle, and we have that coming. Brenda Williams, who worked for Mr. Goodson 20 years ago, and who is retired, has agreed to start working about twenty hours a week to help for the next couple of months. Sherri said that she is here to Brenda will come in to upload every action that they do to the North Carolina Housing Finance Agency's portal (RCRS). So, if we do a move-in, you should be uploading the paperwork for the move-in. Sherri said that we got behind and are behind a year so, she will be doing the uploads. Mr. Goodson reiterated that Brenda's job will be to upload documents. He said that her job is not to answer the phone or answer tenant questions but to just upload the documents to the NCHFA's portal to get us caught up so she will start September 3rd after Labor Day.

Mr. Goodson spoke about development. He said that he had a call with Sherrod Banks and Cassandra with the Banks Law firm last week about the developer agreement and highlighted some areas that they think need to be strengthened to better represent the agency. He said that he should be able to get the updated agreement to him later this week so that we can get it back to the developer team to keep that process moving forward. Mr. Goodson said that the longer we do not move on Stewart Manor, the further the building gets behind and we may miss a cycle of funding through the NCHFA. He said that the developer agreement is the roadmap, so we are taking our time to get it right, but we must make sure we do not miss important funding deadlines. Sherri said that we had put a bid out to ask local contractors to empty Stewart Manor because if we leave anything in the building we have to maintain the fire alarm, the elevator, etc. of over $45K, when the bid came back for over 60K for all of the stuff that was in the apartments and storage rooms that were filled with boxes from the last 30 years in Stewart Manor. Sherri said that she was appalled, and she could not have third parties touching the boxes because of what was in them, so she asked for a volunteer crew to help do the filthy work to see the dates on them and follow the process. She said that we narrowed it down to one thousand boxes, we found a couple of shredding companies that would charge $14K or $15K that we do not have to shred it, so she called the fire department to ask about burning the documents. She said that our architect told her about a company in Rockingham that recycles paper, but it took her about a month to get someone from the company. She said that she was given permission to bring all the boxes to them at no cost and they can make about $13K to make cupholders and toilet paper out of the recyclable products. She said that the only requirement is that we take the binder clips and other stuff be taken off; but we went down there with a crew and about three hundred boxes to get it down there. She said that we have volunteers to go back down there on Friday to work and get the work done; however, we will not go back down there until we get another ample number of boxes to take down there with a crew. She said that they were nice and helpful who give us a pallet, but it was $14K dollars saved. Mr. Goodson said that we are fixing it through teamwork outside of agenda items.

Dr. Wicker said that last week we interviewed six people, and we have four scheduled to interview this week. She said that we have the top three that we will bring in for the rest of the board to interview with. Mr. Goodson said a total of fourteen have applied; and Ms. Dalrymple said that three have not responded. Dr. Wicker asked that we no longer reach out to the three who have not responded and put down the advertisement. Mr. Goodson said that we have had some solid people so we would take down the advertisement.

Dr. Wicker made the motion to close out the CEO advertisement. Mr. Newby seconded the motion to stop receiving resumes for the CEO position. All were in favor; the motion passed unanimously.

9. Commissioners' Comments
There were no additional comments.

10. Public Comments
There were no public comments.

11. Closed Session
There was no closed session

12. Adjournment
Dr. Wicker made the motion to adjourn. Ms. Aeschliman seconded; all were in favor. The meeting was adjourned at 7:07 pm.

Marcus D. Goodson